Many agencies are looking to improve the visibility around vehicles when parked on the side of the road. According to an article by Roselynne Reyes in Government Fleet the Massachusetts State Police (MSP) have successfully implemented several initiatives to make officers more visible and increase officer safety at night.

This important initiative started with vehicle graphics, then moved to vehicle lighting.

A common complaint with many agencies is that a light bar’s brightness is a distraction in itself. “LED technology has become the norm, vehicle lighting became significantly brighter. Unfortunately, this can be a strain on the eyes for motorists stopped on the side of the road.”

To solve this problem, MSP worked to find a solution. Its new light bar uses a steady burn – in which the blue light flickers at a lower intensity when parked at a traffic stop. “It’s bright, it flashes, and when you go to a call it’s as bright as any other cruiser out there. You can see us as far away as anybody else. But what it does is, once the officer puts it in park, it automatically dims down.”